


More Bones Than a Graveyard

by titaniumplatedspine



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Auguste (Captive Prince) Lives, Creepy foster parent Regent, Damen works at the juvenile facility Nicaise is sent to, Foster child Nicaise, M/M, Nicaise (Captive Prince) Lives, Nik is done with Damen's shit, Separated in the system Auguste and Laurent, Slow Burn, Tagged for typical Regent ick
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-05-13 23:53:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14758682
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/titaniumplatedspine/pseuds/titaniumplatedspine
Summary: Someone hurt him.





	1. one

**Author's Note:**

> Work has canon typical Regent ick, but nothing will be explicit. 
> 
> I'm basing the place Damen works on a place from my hometown. It was a juvenile facility that was a step below actual secure juvenile detention, and included a school, as well as housing for residents. Local kids who were struggling went to school there and came home. More serious cases lived there. I never worked in the facility, but I did get to work with a number of kids from there. 
> 
> Fic title from [Dead Man's Arms](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZSM7v9c-wU) by Bishop Briggs

Damen had been at work five minutes and he was already regretting it. He’d spent the weekend sleeping on Nik’s couch that his legs dangled off of, and his neck was pinched and sore. He only had a few bags of clothes with him, and most of them were dirty so he’d had to settle for a wrinkled shirt and pants with a stain on them. Then, as he’d swiped his badge and walked to the staff break room to clock in, another staff member had barrelled into him causing him to spill coffee all over himself. The staff member, Pallas, quickly apologized but then continued to run towards the sound of yelling coming from one of the classrooms. Damen sighed and hoped he had a spare shirt in his office, and wondered again why he hadn’t called in. 

He was lucky enough to find a spare polo shoved in his desk. It was wrinkled, but it didn’t smell horrible and he couldn’t see any stains so it would have to do. He was in the middle of switching shirts when there was a knock on his office door and Pallas walked in and threw himself into a chair. 

“You’re not gonna believe this new little shit we have in the residential unit.”

Damen finished pulling on his shirt, and grabbed a stress ball from his desk and threw it to Pallas who tossed it between his hands while he vented. 

“He’s not as aggressive as some of these kids, but the attitude is horrible, and I’ve never met someone with such a foul mouth. We had twice the normal amount of fights this weekend, and I’m pretty sure he’s provoking them, but I haven’t been able to prove it.”

“Sounds like a challenge.” Damen offered levelly, sipping at what remained of his coffee, “What’s his name?”

“Nicaise. Came in from his foster home over the weekend after running away for the third time this month. Bit the cop that brought him here.”

“Oh hell. If he’s that bad why’s he here and not at Secure?”

Pallas shrugged, still tossing the ball in the air, “Not sure. He keeps this shit up and he’ll end up there for sure though. I was hoping you could have a go at him this afternoon.”

Damen quickly ran through his schedule for the day, before nodding, “Send him in here for lunch, and I’ll have a talk with him then.”

Pallas shot him grateful smile, and tossed the stress ball back to Damen before he hollered his thanks as he jogged out of the office. He was supposed to be helping Aktis supervise the middle school class area, and he needed to hurry back there. Those kids were a handful on the best of days, and clearly it was not the best of days already. Damen sat at his desk and started up his computer. If he was going to sit with Nicaise for lunch, he had a few other things to accomplish first. 

==

It was just after noon when the knock on his door interrupted Damen from his work. He quickly saved the supply request forms he’d been working on and yelled that the door was open. The door opened, and Damen saw the kid that had been causing so much trouble for his coworkers over the weekend. Nicaise was smaller than he’d imagined, almost delicate looking with his fine boned features, but the scowl on his face said otherwise. Pallas was behind Nicaise, and Damen noticed that he kept carefully just out of striking range. Damen sighed internally, but kept a smile on his face otherwise as the two approached and Nicaise flopped in a chair and promptly put his feet on Damen’s desk. 

Damen quirked an eyebrow at Nicaise’s insolence, and waved Pallas off when he would have corrected him. Nicaise was like many of the others Damen had worked with, testing his boundaries. Damen liked to build more of a rapport with any of the juveniles he worked with before taking any action. He had put his feet up on the desk not an hour ago. It would be fine. 

Damen waited for Pallas to leave the room, and made sure he had his wallet. The way his day had gone it wouldn’t be a surprise for it to have gone missing. Then he settled in and gave a considering look to Nicaise.

“Did Pallas tell you who I am?” he asked, and Nicaise sneered at him. Damen continued on undeterred, “My name is Damen and I’m the Rec Director and an Outbound Transfer Coordinator here. Basically I’m in charge of all the sport, leisure, and community activities here, as well as one of the panel who makes decisions on when and how to transfer our students out of the residential unit that you’re in now.”

Nicaise looked unimpressed, and ground his heel into the desk a little but Damen was determined not to react. He’d seen all sorts of kids come through his doors, and he’d always found that a little patience and kindness did more to help their relationship along than anything else. 

“Nicaise, Pallas brought you to me because you’ve been causing some difficulties for them already on the unit. I want to help you set up a goal and plan to meet it so that we don’t have these kinds of problems. Can you tell me about yourself?”

“Don’t see why I fucking should,” the boy in front of him grumped, “you’ve got all my paperwork.” 

_Foster kid,_ remembered Damen, _probably one with a long background with social services. Used to having people look at that paperwork and make their decisions about him ahead of time._

“Oh, I never read anyone’s paperwork before I meet them. Actually I avoid it as long as possible. I like to make up my own mind about people.” Damen waited, but Nicaise wasn’t going to volunteer anything. That was okay. Damen had his ways. Damen pulled open a drawer in his desk, noting Nicaise’s slight flinch at the sudden movement, and slid a stack of takeout menus across the desk.

“Well, I brought you here for lunch. I’m afraid I don’t know you well enough to take you out yet, but we can order something in and talk while we wait for it. Why don’t you look through those and decide what you want, and just let me know when you’re ready to order.”

Damen woke his computer up and went back to work on his supply requests, watching Nicaise out of the corner of his eyes. It took Nicaise a moment, but finally his fingers twitched towards the menus. Keeping an eye on Damen all the while, he reached for the menus. When Damen continued to (mostly) ignore him, and didn’t snatch the menus back, he began to dig through them. Some were discarded immediately, tossed unceremoniously onto the floor, while others were stacked on the table for a second look. Nicaise kept an eye on Damen, but Damen was determined not to rush the process and to let Nicaise decide. 

When it seemed Nicaise was down to one or two menus, Damen slid a small notepad and a pen over. Nicaise pulled his feet back so Damen didn’t touch him, but didn’t otherwise react and Damen knew he’d been watching him too.

 _Observant,_ Damen concluded. 

A few minutes later, Nicaise shoved the notepad back across the desk, and Damen let him knock the keyboard a little out of place. His instincts and years of this work were telling him that Nicaise wasn’t actually interested in breaking any rules, he was more interested in seeing what Damen would do. A kid like Nicaise would be expecting anger, maybe violence. Damen’s first step would be to break those expectations.

Nicaise had written down an order from a nearby Thai place, one that even let him order online, so Damen set about putting the order in. When that was done, he printed off a sheet, and slid it over to Nicaise who still had his feet on the desk and was fiddling with the pen he’d used to write his order. Nicaise glared at him, and didn’t move forward to take it.

“This is a sheet I have everyone do when I first start working with them. The food will be here in about a half hour. I’d like you to start filling it out in the meantime, and then we’ll discuss it after we eat.”

Nicaise didn’t look like he was going to do it at first, and Damen watched him patiently. Eventually Nicaise cracked, dropping his feet to the ground with the loudest noise he could and yanked the sheet over, swearing under his breath. 

They worked in silence, Nicaise mostly grumbling and doodling on his sheet. He jumped when the knock on the open door came, and Lykaios smiled gently at them both while holding a bag of food aloft.

“I met the delivery man in the parking lot. I figured I’d save you the trouble of walking out to meet him.”

“Thank you Lulu.” Damen smiled at her as she handed him the bag.

“You won’t be so grateful when you realize I ate your spring rolls.” she responded, smiling and giggling as she sauntered out the door. Damen chuckled as he sorted out the food. Nicaise took his greedily, and Damen didn’t even have time to hand him a disposable plate before he was digging into it. The spring rolls were still there, although it did appear that one was missing. Damen moved his most important paperwork out of the desk and let Nicaise eat. 

Fifteen minutes later the boy had scarfed down all of his food, and was eyeing Damen’s. Damen shoved the rest of the appetizers over to him, but pulled his bowl of curry closer and decided he better distract Nicaise.

“How did you do on your sheet Nicaise?”

Nicaise flipped him off and yanked the sheet closer.

“Doesn’t seem right.” he muttered around a bite of chicken satay.

“What’s that Nicaise?” 

“You getting to know everything about me, but I don’t know nothing about you.” Nicaise swallowed noisily and took a large gulp of his bottled tea, “Why should I trust you with anything?”

 _Smart,_ thought Damen. _Maybe a little paranoid._

“I can see your point Nicaise. So how about we make a deal?” Nicaise shoved more food into his mouth, but his eyes were interested, “I’ll fill out the same sheet for myself, and we can go over them together during lunch tomorrow.”

Nicaise glared at him, but finally he reluctantly nodded. Damen allowed himself a small smile and stood up, stretching his arms over his head. 

“Well if that’s settled, I’m going to take you back to your classes so I can get some work done. Follow me.”

That’s when Damen made his first and only mistake of the meeting. Not thinking, he reached out to grab the garbage from their lunch and brushed over Nicaise’s shoulder. Nicaise jerked away, and before Damen could apologize he felt the sting of a plastic fork in his leg. He stilled, looking down very slowly to see where Nicaise had stabbed him with a disposable dining utensil. Nicaise has frozen as well, pale but refusing to back down. 

It all comes together then, the way Nicaise hadn’t ever really taken his eyes off Damen, the slights twitches at sudden movements, the lack of trust and his placement here. 

_Someone hurt him._


	2. two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His name is Laurent

Damen came home from work ready to plan. He had shoved all of Nicaise’s paperwork in his bag along with several of his favorite reference books. It had been an accident to touch Nicaise, but he was worried he’d already destroyed any fragile connection he may have built. He was hoping he could come up with a plan to fix things. 

Nik was home when he got there, already showered and changed into soft looking pajama pants. His hair was getting long again and curled over his ears. He was stretched out over the couch, his legs dangling off the edge, and there was a line between his eyebrows that meant he was angry or had a migraine, maybe both. Damen looked at him, and changed his task list for the night to take care of Nik, come up with a way to fix his mistake with Nicaise, then look for an apartment because Nik’s couch was awful. 

He set his bag in the kitchen, and went to check on Nik. He managed to ease Nik into his bedroom, setting him up with dim lights and a cold compress on his head before he darted back to the kitchen. He assembled some soup and sandwiches for the fridge, and made a mug of tea for Nik. He snagged some painkillers from the bathroom on the way and eased into the room as silently as he could. 

Nik made a soft grumble of gratitude when presented with the tray, and managed about half a sandwich and a few swallows of soup before his painkillers kicked in and he was snoring into his pillow. Damen made sure he was settled before taking the tray back to the kitchen and grabbing his bag. Now he could work on the rest of his list. 

==

A few hours later, Damen had made no progress on either of his problems. He’d grabbed Nicaise’s paperwork on impulse, but found he couldn’t make himself open them yet. He’d tried scrolling through apartment listings, but he hated all of them. Instead he found himself idly looking through a real estate website and looking at the houses. He was settled enough in his job, and he still had some savings from his trust. He could afford one. Jokaste had just never wanted one before, and now he knew why.

Damen shut that line of thinking down quickly, and made a note to call his landlord and utility companies in the morning to make sure everything had been taken out of his name. Jokaste had wanted that apartment, she could deal with all the bills that came with it. 

He was idling over the realtor number for a three bedroom ranch on the edge of town when he heard a thump and a curse from the hallway. He looked up to see Nik emerging, eyes still half shut but still managing to look considerably more human than he had a few hours ago. He pushed Damen’s books off the end of the couch onto the floor and sprawled out in the available space, his head on Damen’s shoulder. 

“That one’s nice.” Nik grumbled, and it took Damen a moment to realize he was talking about the house. “Kitchen is ugly though.”

Damen chuckled and shut the browser. The kitchen was ugly, and with Nik awake he could brainstorm about Nicaise instead of fumbling around. 

“Rough night at work?” Nik worked for the Marlas PD, normally as the school liaison at the high school, but during the summer he had to work regular patrol shifts. 

“This whole month has been a disaster. I can’t remember the last time I was actually home before midnight.”

“Aren’t you supposed to be done at like 8?”

“Yup. But I’m behind on all my reports, and I get handed every rotten kid call in the city since they all think I know them. Some of these kids are like nine Damen. And this little asshole bit me over the weekend, so I had to go to the ER and make sure he didn’t have rabies or something.”

Damen tuned out Nik’s rant, because there’s something familiar in there he couldn’t quite place. He grabbed Nicaise’s folder and opened to the intake report Pallas had written. He almost laughed when he found what he was looking for. This was perfect. 

“This kid who bit you, was his name Nicaise by any chance?”

“Oh no. No, no, no, Damen do not tell me he is your newest project.”

“I won’t tell you then.” Damen deadpanned, and Nik groaned dramatically and threw himself back onto the couch.

“That kid has been a pain in my ass all summer Damen. Running away, fighting with other kids in the park, running around the city at all hours. I don’t even want to think about what he’ll do when he hits high school next month.”

“Yeah, sounds like he’s giving the unit staff a hard time too. It’s how I ended up with him. What can you tell me?”

Nik groaned again, scrubbed at his eyes and considered Damen’s request, “He’s a smart ass little shit. Been in the system long enough to know exactly what he can get away with. Never really does anything illegal, just a nuisance. I’d guess he just doesn’t want to go back to his house.”

“He’s a foster kid right? Any name I’d recognize?” Daman asked. He’d worked with a fair few families transitioning kids out of the home, or bringing them in. Maybe the foster family was someone he could use to help him.

“Oh, you’ll recognize it, but it’s not going to help.” Nik said darkly, and Damen’s gut lurched.

“Reinier?” he asked, and NIk nodded in confirmation. Well, fuck. 

==

The thing with Reginald Reinier was that he never did anything illegal or against the rules, at least not that he was ever caught at. It didn’t change the fact that he gave both Damen and Nik the creeps. He seemed perfectly pleasant at first, but there was something about him that was just slimy. 

Ten years ago, Reginald’s brother and sister-in-law died when faulty wiring in their cabin had started a fire. Reginald had been out of the country, but came back upon hearing of his brother’s demise to take over the reins of his brother’s company and take custody of his nephew. 

He changed the face of the company completely, turning it from a medical research company that worked to develop low cost cures for rare and under researched conditions into a pill pushing juggernaut that was widely criticized for its inflated prices. The nephew was homeschooled because of his anxiety after his parent’s death, and apparently left for college a few years ago, but no one knew anything else about him. 

Apparently the nephew had quite an impact, because after he left for college Reginald had become a foster parent, saying he had so much and he wanted to provide for children who had been left alone like his own nephew. He exclusively took in young boys, because he didn’t want any untoward accusations from a young girl. 

Damen’s biggest issue was Reginald’s influence in the system. He used his connections to have his company’s medications prescribed in the jail and juvenile detention center, all paid for on the taxpayer’s dime. It was absurd, and in Damen’s own, admittedly inexpert opinion, the medications hurt more than they helped. Luckily his influence hadn’t yet extended to Damen’s own job. 

==

Damen walked into his lunch meeting with Nicaise as prepared as he could be. He’d decided the simplest approach would be the best; apologize for startling him, and invite him to move forward. If Nicaise didn’t take the chance there was nothing Damen could do about it. 

He had an assortment of menus laying out again. After this he’d probably have to stop buying food and insist Nicaise take his food from the lunch room, but he could afford one more day. He’d also prepared his own introduction to go over with Nicaise. Hopefully the boy was still interested. 

Nicaise was escorted in by Lykaios this time, and he was scowling, but Lykaios simply ignored him and chatted cheerfully away. He gave her a quick squeeze around the shoulders and thanked her, and she practically skipped from the room. 

“I didn’t want to order for you, so lunch is your choice again today. Last one, so make it count.” Damen opened cheerfully. He was tense, waiting for Nicaise to act, but the boy seemed to deflate and flopped into his seat to peruse the menus again. 

Damen gave him a second to settle in, and once Nicaise had written his order, he took the paper and opened the restaurant website, then he spoke again, “Nicaise I wanted to apologize for yesterday.”

“You want to what?” Nicaise asked, his eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Damen was willing to bet not many adults had apologized to him before.

“Apologize. I didn’t mean to startle you yesterday. I try not to touch others without warning, and I wasn’t being careful yesterday. I hope you can forgive me and we can move past it.”

Nicaise still looked confused, and his brows furrowed further. He opened his mouth, then closed it again and studied Damen. He shook his head and seemed to reach a conclusion before finally responding, “That’s fine I guess. Sorry for stabbing you with my fork.” 

“Thank you Nicaise, I appreciate that. Now, this will have to be a working lunch. Did you finish the sheet I gave you yesterday?”

Nicaise grumbled something that sounded vaguely positive and pulled the wrinkled, folded up piece of paper from his pocket. He smoothed it out on the table and glanced at Damen, clearly waiting for him to go first. 

“Okay Nicaise, we can take turns with this. I’ll start off. I’m Damen, I’m 28 years old, and like I told you yesterday i’m the Rec Director and Outbound Transfer Coordinator here at Marlas Charter Academy. I’ve worked here for about three years now. I have my Bachelor’s in Psychology from the University of Akielos-Ios, and I have my Master’s from Delpha U. Now why don’t you tell me a bit about you?”

Nicaise kicked the desk and swore half heartedly at Damen, but Damen quirked his eyebrow and lazily gestured at Nicaise to go ahead. Nicaise swore at him again, and Damen had to admit he was inventive, but finally he slouched and grabbed his paper.

“I’m Nicaise. I’m 14 and I’ll be going to Marlas High in the fall. I’ve lived in foster homes most of my life, and now I’m here.”

“Thank you for sharing Nicaise. I’d like to talk about how you ended up here. I understand from another staff that you had been running away from your foster home. Can you tell me about that?”

“Whaddaya want to know about that shithole for?” Nicaise shot back, and he was back to being agitated and defensive. Something about the Reinier residence had clearly set him off, not that Damen was particularly surprised. 

“Nicaise, it’s my job to make sure you can safely transfer out of here someday. If there’s a problem at your former residence that made you run away, it will mean you can’t go back there.”

Nicaise bit his lip and considered this. His foot was tapping rapidly against the ground, and he’d crossed his arms tight across his chest, “I don’t want to talk about that place. But I don’t want to go back. But, there is somewhere else, I mean if I had my choice, I’d rather go there.”

“Well,can you tell me about that?” Damen prompted. Nicaise was trying his very best to be nonchalant, but Damen could tell that whatever he was saying actually mattered to him. This could be the key for Nicaise getting out of the residential unit. 

“The house I was living in sucked, but the old man had a nephew who was okay I guess. I think he would take me, like if he had the room and stuff.”

“I have a passing familiarity with the home you came from Nicaise, and if it’s not helping you then of course we can try and get you moved elsewhere. I’ve never met the nephew you’re talking about though. What can you tell me about him?”

Nicaise finally looked up from his hands to meet Damen’s eyes, and there was the smallest dash of hope from underneath his normally guarded expression. Damen was ready to fight for whatever gave him that hope, even the nephew of a man he hated. Nicaise took a deep breath, and leaned forward almost eagerly and met Damen’s eyes for the first time this meeting. 

“His name is Laurent.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, many thanks to the fabulous thoughtsappear. She is the greatest beta on the planet, and I could do nothing without her.


	3. three

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't aware Nicaise was on your caseload.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I know this has been an insanely long wait for an update. I do feel bad about that, but I had some shit go down this summer. If you care about reading, I posted a little bit on tumblr [here](https://titaniumplatedspine.tumblr.com/post/175970239473/so-ive-had-some-questions-about-fic-updates). I am doing much better, and hopefully will be back to some more regular updates. If you've stuck with me so far, thank you so much.

Laurent had just finished his statistics class and was contemplating the merits of buying a cup of coffee from the overpriced kiosk in the student center before he walked home when he got the call. He glanced at the unfamiliar number, and the Marlas area code made him grit his teeth. The only person who called him was his uncle, and normally Laurent was happy to ignore him. Now though, his visit with Nicaise hung in the balance so Laurent gathered himself and answered the call.

“Hello?”

“Hello, I’m looking for Laurent Reinier?” The voice was polite, very masculine, and definitely didn't belong to his uncle. It put Laurent on edge for reasons he couldn’t identify.

“Speaking.”

“Ah, my name is Damen Vasileus, and I’m the Recreational Director at Marlas Charter Academy. I was given your number by a student here, a Nicaise Martin?”

“Yes, I know Nicaise. Where did you say you were from again?” Laurent kept his face and voice blank, but inside he was panicking. Why was Nicaise at the academy and how long had he been there?

“Yes, he had some problems in his former home. I’m working with him here to try and curb some of his more, er, confrontational habits.” Laurent almost snickered at the careful selection of words this Damen used to describe Nicaise. Clearly he’d already been on the other end of some of Nicaise’s more obnoxious personality traits. “The reason I’m calling is that your name came up during my last talk with Nicaise, and he seemed to have a relatively high opinion of you.”

“Really? Nicaise said something nice about me?”

Damen snorted in his ear, and Laurent allowed himself a small smirk, “Well, not exactly, he was just less rude than he normally is. But I think you could be a good influence for him, and I wanted to see how you felt about being in contact with him while he’s a resident here. There’s just some forms and basic background checks we have to do before we allow any visitation or phone contact.”

Laurent paused for a moment to consider. Nicaise was the closest thing he’d had to a brother in a long time, even if their relationship was more hostile than loving. Being there for Nicaise was important, especially if he could do so away from his uncle. On the other hand, he didn't know who this Damen was, and he wasn't familiar with the academy he was talking about. He knew his uncle's cronie Govart was high up in Marlas’s juvenile detention facility. He didn't think it was connected at all to this charter school Damen spoke of, but that didn't mean Damen didn't work for his uncle anyways. He weighed the pros and the cons, before deciding to fill out the paperwork. There wouldn't be any information on there his uncle didn't know, and he was concerned for Nicaise.

“Of course, what do you need from me?”

“Just your address if you don’t mind. I’ll mail you the forms we need for the background check, and if you could just fill them out and get them back to me at your convenience we can proceed from there.”

Damen sounded inordinately pleased, and it made Laurent equal parts curious and cautious. He considered his homework and decided it would wait. Tonight he needed to research Damen and his school.

==

Damen had another lunch meeting scheduled with Nicaise, and he was glad he finally had some good news to tell him. After his initial hesitant admission that he would be okay living with Laurent if it was possible, he’d backtracked hard, pretending he’d never said it, and even pretending he didn’t even recognize Laurent’s name. Despite that, Nicaise had become increasingly agitated while they waited for Laurent’s background to come back. He would never say as much, but the uptick in complaints surrounding his behavior was a pretty big clue. 

Nicasie stomped his way into Damen’s office, and dropped his lunch tray onto the desk. His applesauce splattered over the tray a little, and Damen didn’t say anything as he pushed the stack of napkins over to Nicaise. Nicaise scowled at him, and Damen noted the dark circles under his eyes. 

Reginald had been barred from visiting or speaking with Nicaise directly, but Nicaise wouldn’t tell anyone why he didn’t want to see the man so badly. Reginald was starting to push, wondering when he could see Nicaise and if he’d be returning to his home. Nicaise had been referred to a counselor in the hopes that he would open up, but there had been no luck so far. The whole thing seemed to be upsetting to Nicaise, and his unit supervisor had reported he wasn’t sleeping well at night, if at all. 

“Nicaise, how are you doing today?” Damen started. Nicaise just grunted at him, and stirred his food half heartedly. “Well, I just wanted to remind you that you have the meeting with your social worker tomorrow afternoon. I was planning on attending since I’ve been working with you, unless you have a problem with that?”

Nicaise just shrugged, and looked like he was about to drop into his food. Damen huffed. This was ridiculous.

“Nicaise, why don’t you take a nap?”

Nicaise finally looked up at Damen, if only to scowl at him. Damen crossed his arms and met his gaze. 

“I’m not joking. You look like shit and you’re barely awake. The couch in the corner is small, but it’s comfortable enough and I have a spare blanket in the closet. I’ll excuse you from your afternoon classes, and no one will bother you in here.”

Nicaise blinked at him, glare slipping off his face, and he considered the loveseat in the corner. His exhaustion must have won out, because he slunk from his seat and was curled up and dozing before Damen even had the chance to point out the blanket to him. 

Damen took a moment to grab the blanket and spread it over Nicaise, careful not to touch him at all, before he grabbed his phone to send a message. His good news for Nicaise would have to wait. 

==

The next day Nicaise was back in Damen’s office, practically vibrating as he waited for his social worker. He had woken up after his nap, and had asked if he could have the meeting in Damen’s office, scowling and refusing to meet Damen’s smile the whole time. Today he was on edge, too nervous to manifest his normal level of waspishness. Damen knew he was worried about going back to the Reinier house, but Damen was ready to throw down with the social worker if needed. 

There was a knock on the door, and Lykaios cracked it open. The look on her face was disturbed, and it put Damen on edge. Lykaios was too sweet to let anything phase her, not even the nastiest of the kids they worked with. He had to fight the urge to throw himself between Nicaise and the door. 

“I have Nicaise’s social worker here.” she told Damen, and he nodded at her to let them in. Lykaios stepped back to allow the social worker in, and now her dark look made sense. The social worker was gorgeous, blonde and curvy and just Damen’s type. He also knew her to be a heartless bitch. He took a breath, and made sure none of his rage showed on his face. 

“Hello Damen.” she greeted, meeting his glare coolly.

“Jokaste, I wasn’t aware Nicaise was on your caseload.” 

“Actually, I just took his case over. Nicaise, my name is Jokaste Demos and I’m your new social worker.” Jokaste offered Nicaise a far gentler look than she had Damen, and offered a hand for him to shake. 

Nicaise took her hand hesitantly, eyes darting back and forth between Jokaste and Damen. He was too smart to not realize there was some underlying tension between the two. Damen grit his teeth and did his best to push his own feelings aside. This wasn’t about him. This was about Nicaise and what he needed. Damen could bitch to Nik later. 

Jokaste sat in the seat next to Nicaise, as graceful as she had ever been. Damen eyed her midsection, and while she appeared as slender as ever, the flowy shirt she wore made it hard to tell. Jokaste arched an eyebrow at him, and he looked impassively back. She looked like maybe she was regretful, but the moment was there and gone fast, and then she shifted her focus to Nicaise. 

Damen was pleased to see Nicaise had scooted himself back in his chair away from Jokaste, but was immediately ashamed. Nicaise needed to have a good relationship with Jokaste if she was to work for him, and he knew she was good at her job. He forced himself to relax and smile encouragingly at Nicaise. Nicaise didn’t move forward, but some of the tension left his shoulders. 

“Nicaise, this is mostly just a getting to know you meeting for me. I have my predecessor’s notes, but I wanted to make sure I had all the correct information. Is it okay if I ask you some questions?”

Nicaise’s eyes flicked over to Damen, who nodded slightly, before he turned back to Jokaste and squared his shoulders, “Go ahead and ask what you need to.”

The meeting progressed from there, and Damen kept an ear out, but Nicaise seemed to be handling the questions fine. Damen wondered if it would be rude if he did some work while they talked. He had some grant paperwork to finish trying to get some updated computer labs for the kids who took classes here instead of attending the regular schools. 

Kids at the academy were divided into several categories. There were kids who lived there, and kids who just took classes there. Kids could attend half day programs here, or there were kids like Nicaise who would live here, but probably take classes at the public school. The academy tended to be a mix of students with learning or behavioral issues that made them a bad fit for a regular school environment, foster children, kids from bad homes, some kids even brought in from out of town after serious problems with the law. In every case, the academy acted as a last ditch effort to help them out before they were moved into the juvenile detention center, and Damen took his job very seriously. 

Since Damen had taken his position two years ago, he’d worked hard at improving the lives of the children under his care. He’d fought for grants and spent endless hours manipulating his budget, and managed to revamp the gym and art programs his first year. Last year he’d helped start a gardening project for the students that allowed them to grow some of their own food, meaning they had more fresh fruits and vegetables available. They had better relationships with the local schools, as well as the social services and police officers they dealt with far too often. The computers were his goal for this year, and he thought he had a good chance at getting the grant. Damen knew he was responsible for good kids, they just needed some help, and he was doing his best to give it to them. 

The meeting was interrupted by Damen’s phone ringing, and he glanced at the screen and had to school his face into impassivity. He cleared his throat to get the attention of the two in his office, and handed his phone to Nicaise.

“It’s for you.”

Nicaise looked at him with a confused glare, but he answered anyways, and Damen was delighted a moment later when his eyes widened and he almost let out a full smile. Jokaste was watching curiously, and Damen tipped his head to the hallway to indicate they should give Nicaise some privacy.

Damen closed the door behind him, Nicaise’s excited chatter badly hidden under bored indifference still faintly audible. Jokaste gave him a questioning look and tilted her head at his office, “Who was that?”

“Laurent Reinier. Nicaise seems as fond of him as he is of anyone.”

“Interesting that he’s so against going back then,” Jokaste muttered to herself, and Damen knew she was frustrated. Nicaise was still refusing to speak to the older Reinier who had been his foster parent for the past few years, and was refusing to tell anyone why.

“Why are you here Jokaste? How did you end up on his case?”

“Reinier is putting a lot of pressure on us. Nicaise’s old social worker was having trouble holding him off. She’s retiring soon, so I volunteered to take his case over.”

“Is that wise? You have your own stress to deal with right now.”

Jokaste scoffed and shot him such a look that Damen almost smiled at her, “I’m not scared of Reinier, Damen. He can’t bully me or buy me off, and that makes me the safest bet for Nicaise right now.”

Their conversation is interrupted by a yell from the end of the hallway, and Damen waved his hand to acknowledge some of the older students. They were heading outside for gym class, and hollered at him to join them outside for a game of football. Damen laughed and told them he’d be out in a few minutes. When they’re gone he looked back at Jokaste to see a fond look on her face, and he backed away. Her hold over him is gone, but at one point she had been important to him, and the memories of his feelings mixed with the memories of how things ended generally left him feeling like he needed to shower. 

Luckily, the moment was interrupted by Nicaise opening the door and looking around frantically before his eyes fell on Damen. Damen’s phone was still held to his ear, and he’d given up all pretense of not being excited. 

“It’s really true? You’re letting Laurent take me for a visit?”

“Well, there’s some steps we need to go through first, but if all goes well, yes he’ll be taking you for the week before school starts.” Damen told him, and Nicaise let out a strangled yell before he tackled Damen. It took Damen a moment to recognize the hug, but he gingerly wrapped Nicaise in his arms and squeezed the boy gently before letting him go. Nicaise was on the verge of tears as he backed into Damen’s office again. “Thank you.” he whispered before he shut the door in Damen’s face, and Damen laughed. He gave up on work, and told Jokaste she and Nicaise were welcome to his office for the rest of their meeting. He might as well join that football game after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moodboard and tumblr post are found [here](https://titaniumplatedspine.tumblr.com/post/175225679783/more-bones-than-a-graveyard-masterpost) if you're interested in reblogging. 
> 
> As always, thanks to thoughsappear for reblogging my mess, and fixing all my tenses.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave me a comment or yell at me on [tumblr](https://titaniumplatedspine.tumblr.com/) to tell me what you thought!


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